Cozy up to delicious homemade pot pie loaded with tender chicken and vegetables, creamy filling, and golden puff pastry topping. And the best part? This comfort food classic cooks up in half the time thanks to your air fryer!
Pot Pie: The Basics
Pot pie in all its deliciousness can be broken down into three essential elements: savory filling, creamy sauce, and flaky crust.
- Filling: Whether you’re craving meat or veggies, the filling of your pot pie is totally customizable to your tastes. The only rule is that the elements of your filling should be cooked until tender. This is no place for al-dente anything! Our recipe uses a traditional filling made with chicken, carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, and peas. Pot pie can be the perfect excuse to use up any leftover or rotisserie chicken you have on hand. Or you can omit the chicken, bump up the veggies, and make it vegetarian!
- Sauce: The sauce in a pot pie is the creamy goodness that holds everything together. Pot pie sauce often starts with a flavorful stock that is reduced and thickened. To thicken, you can use either cornstarch or a simple roux made with flour and butter added to the stock. Heavy cream is often added as the finishing touch for additional flavor and richness.
- Crust: Let’s be honest- it is seriously all about the crust! Skip the bottom crust to avoid sogginess and focus on the all-important top crust. You can use anything from puff pastry, biscuits, or pie dough. For maximum flakiness, our recipe uses store-bought puff pastry.
How to make Pot Pie in your air fryer
In order to make pot pie air fryer friendly, follow these steps:
- Choose the right vessel: Instead of one big family-sized pie, opt for single servings to make pot pie air fryer friendly. You can use ceramic ramekins, disposable aluminum pans, miniature loaf pans, or even a small cast iron skillet. Check to see what fits best in your air fryer, as every model is different.
- Cook the filling through before assembling: When you make a large pot pie in the oven, the bake time is longer which gives the filling a chance to cook and thicken while in the oven. When air frying individual portions, the cook time is very quick. So be sure your vegetables are sautéed until tender and your filling is fully thickened on the stove top before topping with pastry and air frying.
- Roll out the pastry: Even though puff pastry comes ready-to-go in sheets, take the time to roll out the pastry even thinner before topping your pies. This way, your pastry will have a chance to fully cook in the short time it spends in your air fryer.
- Know your air fryer: Every make and model of air fryer cooks differently. The higher-end models especially tend to get very hot and cook in less time. To ensure the pastry has a chance to cook thoroughly, loosely cover the pies with aluminum foil for the first portion of their cook time. Once the pastry has gotten a head start, remove the foil so the pastry can puff and brown.
More Easy Dinner Recipes
Air Fryer Pot Pie
Cozy up to delicious homemade air fryer pot pie loaded with tender chicken and vegetables, creamy filling, and golden puff pastry topping.
Ingredients
Air Fryer Pot Pie Filling
- 4 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken*
- 1 1/2 cups peeled and cubed Yukon gold potato, about 1 large potato
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 3 sprigs parsley, minced
- 3 sprigs thyme leaves, minced
- 1/2 cup peas, frozen
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- kosher salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
Air Fryer Pot Pie Crust
- 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed overnight in the refrigerator**
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 sprig thyme leaves, minced
- kosher salt and cracked black pepper , to taste
- flour, for dusting
Instructions
Air Fryer Pot Pie Filling
- In a small saucepan, bring two cups of the chicken stock to a boil and add in the cubed potato. Boil until fork tender, about 10 minutes. When tender, remove the potato from the cooking liquid and reserve the remaining stock for the filling. 2 additional cups are needed, so if some liquid evaporated during boiling, replace with additional stock.
- In a separate pan, place the diced onion, carrots, and celery and sauté in butter with kosher salt and black pepper to taste over medium heat until softened, about 8 minutes. When the veggies have softened, add in the minced garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
- To make a roux add 3 tablespoons of flour to the sautéed veggies in butter and cook for about 1-2 minutes, being careful not to burn.
- Bring the 2 cups of reserved chicken stock back to a boil in your saucepan. Once boiling, add the veggie and flour mixture, the cooked potatoes, and the cooked, shredded chicken. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook until the mixture is very thick and gravy-like, about 5 minutes, stirring as needed.
- To the thickened filling, add the minced parsley and thyme leaves as well as the frozen peas (no need to thaw) and the heavy cream. Taste and adjust seasoning with kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and transfer the filling evenly into disposable aluminum pans.
Air Fryer Pot Pie Crust
- Transfer the thawed puff pastry sheet onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the pastry until it is about half its original thickness. Using the miniature pan as a guide, cut three rectangular pieces of puff pastry large enough to top each pan with about an inch of hang-over on all four sides.
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the microwave and crack in one egg and whisk with a fork to make an egg wash. Add in one sprig of minced thyme leaves and mix. Brush the egg mixture along the rim of the foil pan. Top each pie with a thin piece of puff pastry and fold any excess down the sides of the pan. Use a small knife to cut a slit in the puff pastry to allow any steam to release while cooking. Brush the tops of the pies with the remaining egg wash and sprinkle on kosher salt and black pepper to taste.
Air Fry
- Preheat your air fryer to 395°. Cover the pot pies loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil and add 2 at a time into the preheated air fryer.
- Cook for about 15 minutes tented with foil. Then, remove the foil, and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes until they are a deep, golden brown.*** Serve piping hot.
Equipment
- 1 Air Fryer
- 3 mini loaf pans, disposable or steel, roughly 5" x 3" x 2" in size
- aluminum foil
- Rolling Pin
Notes
*This recipe is perfect to make with leftover cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken. If you are starting from scratch, poach a chicken breast in stock or in salted, boiling water for about 12 minutes, then shred with two forks. **Puff pastry is found in the freezer section of the grocery store. Thaw the package in the fridge overnight. Leave the puff pastry sheet in the fridge until you are ready to roll it out, as it puffs best when cold. ***Every air fryer is different. Keep an eye on the pies while they cook, and if you have access to multiple air fryers, use your best quality option to ensure best results with the puff pastry crust.
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